A dying democratic tradition / Majority of voters may elect to vote by mail

In little more than seven weeks, voters from San Diego to Yreka will make the traditional trip to polling places set up in schools, churches, private homes and other neighborhood locales to cast ballots on everything from city council hopefuls to the party candidates for governor.

Oops, not so fast. In fact, election experts are saying that there is a decent chance that California voters this year will mark a milestone in which more than half the voters will not trek to their neighborhood polling place on Election Day but will instead cast their ballots by mail.

It may not conjure up the Norman Rockwell vision of individual participation in democracy, but voting by mail has a lot else going for it. Namely, it is a heck of a lot more convenient for voters and it is a heck of a lot cheaper for state and local governments, meaning a heck of a lot cheaper for taxpayers.

And it is a heck of a lot more popular than ever.

In the November 2008 elections, nearly 45 percent of San Diego County voters cast their ballot by mail. Statewide, mail-ballot voting has skyrocketed from 28 percent in 2002 to 42 percent in 2008. And it’s not just a California trend. More than 60 percent of all ballots in Colorado in 2008 were cast by mail. Since 1998, elections in Oregon have been conducted entirely by mail.